Saturday, July 26, 2014

EU sanctions weaken anti-terror efforts - Russia

Dutch military personnel carry coffins containing the remains of the victims of the MH17 plane crash - 25 July 2014
About 75 more bodies arrived at Eindhoven on Friday as forensic experts continue trying to identify remains

Russia says new EU sanctions against it over the Ukraine crisis will jeopardise security co-operation against terror.
The Russian foreign ministry said the EU would bear the blame for the move which sees 15 officials and 18 entities subject to asset freezes and visa bans.
The EU and US accuse Russia of backing Ukraine's rebels. Moscow denies this.
Meanwhile 40 Dutch military police officers arrived in east Ukraine hoping to investigate the Malaysian airliner apparently shot down there on 17 July.
Pro-Russian separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine have been accused of downing the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17.
All 298 people on board, including 193 Dutch nationals, died.
The US says it believes rebels shot down the passenger jet with a Russian-provided surface-to-air missile, probably by mistake.
Angela Rudhart-Dyczynski and Jerzy Dyczynsk from Australia react as they arrive at the crash site to look for their late daughter Fatima
Some of the victims' relatives have now arrived at the crash site in eastern Ukraine

Ukrainian troops on patrol in the Lugansk region - 25 July 2014
The Ukrainian army has retaken control over several towns in recent days

Russia has frequently denied sending heavy weapons into Ukraine. Moscow has suggested the plane could have been shot down by the Ukrainian military. Ukraine has denied the charge.
The fighting in eastern Ukraine erupted in April and is believed to have claimed more than 1,000 lives.
'Threatening' tone
In a statement, the Russian foreign ministry said the new EU sanctions showed that the 28-member bloc was taking "a complete turn away from joint work with Russia on international and regional security, including the fight against the spread of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, organised crime and other challenges".
"We believe these decisions will be greeted enthusiastically by international terrorists".
In a separate statement, the Russian ministry also accused the US of "an unrelenting campaign of slander against Russia".
The EU sanctions were agreed after lengthy negotiations in Brussels on Friday.
The senior Russian officials targeted include Federal Security Service head Alexander Bortnikov, foreign intelligence head Mikhail Fradkov and Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the Russian security council.
The leader of Russia's southern Chechnya republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, is also on the list.
The tone of the latest Russian statement on the EU sanctions is indignant, even threatening, the BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Moscow reports.
If the aim of international sanctions was to force Russia to change its stance on Ukraine, it is clear that that so far this is not happening, our correspondent says.
Crash site talks
About 200 bodies have been recovered from the MH17 crash site in eastern Ukraine and are being flown to the Netherlands, where forensic experts are working on identifying them.
The Dutch and Australian foreign ministers are negotiating with Ukrainian officials in Kiev to send police to the crash site near Grabove, which is controlled by the rebels.
The 40 Dutch military police officers are already in the eastern city of Kharkiv. They are joining a team of Australian police hoping to travel the site.
They hope that such a deployment would allow experts, who have faced difficulties gaining access to the site, to proceed with the investigation amid continuing fighting in the region.
Malaysian PM Najib Razak has said he will fly to the Netherlands next week to discuss the issue.
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